Deck 1: 1890s: The Beginnings of Modern America

Question 1

By the early twentieth century the federal government had given away the land equivalent of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and much of New York to private railway companies and builders.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Thomas Edison developed the incandescent light bulb in 1879.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The 1890s were a time of great economic prosperity and stability.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The decision in the Wabash case of 1886 led to the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Question 5

The agricultural industry in the South was comprised of over a million small farms, many of which were operated by tenant farmers or sharecroppers.

Question 6

Most immigrants entering the country in the 1880s and 1890s came from Western Europe.

Question 7

The Populist party was dedicated to urban reform.

Question 8

William Jennings Bryan's "Cross of Gold" speech supported the gold standard.

Question 9

The "new" American empire of the 1890s was one based on trade and overseas markets, not territorial expansion.

Question 10

The U.S. acquisition of the Philippines was accomplished with little or no violence.

Question 11

Why did the corporations of the Gilded Age feel threatened by the growing labor movement?

Question 12

Although African-Americans gained citizenship after the Civil War, in many cases their situation had not improved substantially. In what ways were African-Americans kept from becoming fully integrated into American society and political culture?

Question 13

What reforms did organizations such as the Grangers and the Populist Party hope to impose upon the government?

Question 14

Why was the prospect of women's suffrage viewed as a threat by the business community?

Question 15

How did the closing of the frontier affect American imperial interests? Was it necessary for Americans to become an imperial power? Explain.

Question 16

The 1873 panic was caused by:

A) Recession
B) Inflation
C) Overproduction
D) Underproduction

Question 17

The Sherman Antitrust Act:

A) Attempted to outlaw monopolies in business
B) Successfully reformed corporate practices
C) Regulated railroad traffic across state boundaries
D) None of the above

Question 18

Which of the following was not one of the causes of the Spanish-American War?

A) The sinking of the USS Maine
B) The declaration of an independent Cuban government
C) The growing power of the press
D) President McKinley's desire to go to war against Spain

Question 19

Which of the following was a success for the labor movement?

A) The Pullmen strike
B) The establishment of the American Federation of Labor
C) The arrest of eight Haymarket Riot leaders
D) The Homestead strike

Question 20

Frederick Jackson Turner's thesis depended on what feature of the United States?
A )Its western frontier
B) Its colonial past
C) Its democratic system
D) Its commitment to free-market economics

Question 21

What sort of workers participated in the Pullman Strike of 1894?

A) Mine
B) Railroad
C) Postal
D) Factory

Question 22

The Wabash case came before the Supreme Court in what year?

A) 1886
B) 1888
C) 1890
D) 1892

Question 23

Who were the "Robber Barons"?

A) Southern anti-black leaders
B) Corrupt government officials
C) Southern industrialists who cooperated with northern entrepreneurs
D) Late nineteenth-century corporate leaders

Question 24

Who were the "Redeemers"?

A) Southern anti-black leaders
B) Southern industrialists who cooperated with northern entrepreneurs
C) Late nineteenth-century corporate leaders
D) Women's-right activists

Question 25

In 1900, illiteracy rates among African-Americans were how many times that of whites?

A) Two times
B) Four times
C) Six times
D) Eight times

Question 26

Which was not one of the "five barriers" that potentially stood in the way of corporate domination in late nineteenth-century America?

A) The South
B) Small businesses
C) Organized religion
D) The women's-rights movement

Question 27

The Haymarket Riot took place in what city?

A) Detroit
B) New York
C) Boston
D) Chicago

Question 28

James B. Weaver was the Populist presidential candidate in which year's election?

A) 1888
B) 1892
C) 1896
D) 1900

Question 29

Which was not a hallmark of the Democratic party in the late nineteenth century?

A) Belief in free-market economics
B) Calls for limited government
C) Calls for greater centralization of political
D) All of the above

Question 30

What lay at the root of American imperialism?

A) The need to establish overseas markets
B) Racism
C) The disappearance of the American frontier
D) The Spanish-American war

Question 31

Where did the U.S. Navy defeat a Spanish flotilla in 1898?

A) Port-au-Prince
B) Santiago
C) Manila Bay
D) The South China Sea

Question 32

How many Americans died in battle during the Spanish-American War?

A) 300
B) 500
C) 1,500
D) 5,000

Question 33

In what country did Emilio Aguinaldo organize resistance against U.S. imperialism?

A) Cuba
B) Puerto Rico
C) The Philippines
D) Hawaii

Question 34

Who supported the U.S. annexation of the Philippines?

A) Andrew Carnegie
B) William Jennings Bryan
C) Mark Twain
D) None of the above

Question 35

The "open door" policy related to what country?

A)China
B) The Philippines
C) Cuba
D) Puerto Rico

Question 36

Talk About:
-American Federation of Labor

Question 37

Talk About:
-Andrew Carnegie

Question 38

Talk About:
-corporation

Question 39

Talk About:
-Coxey's Army

Question 40

Talk About:
-"Cross of Gold"

Question 41

Talk About:
-Frederick Jackson Turner

Question 42

Talk About:
-imperialism

Question 43

Talk About:
-Interstate Commerce Commission

Question 44

Talk About:
-nativism

Question 45

Talk About:
-Panic of 1893

Question 46

Talk About:
-Plessy v. Ferguson

Question 47

Talk About:
-"redeemers"

Question 48

Talk About:
-Robber Barons

Question 49

Talk About:
-trusts

Question 50

Talk About:
-USS Maine

Question 51

Talk About:
-woman suffrage movement

Question 52

Talk About:
-Wounded Knee (1890)

Question 53

Frederick Jackson Turner's essay "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" is still considered controversial today. Why did Turner assign so much importance to the closing of the American frontier? Do you think Turner's thesis still has merits today? Why or why not?

Question 54

The 'splendid little war' that was the Spanish-American War helped establish the United States as a world power, yet the federal government had to be pushed into the war. How did the United States adjust to its new role in the world? Was America betraying its ideals by embracing imperial power when it had been thrust upon the nation?